Northwestern files suit against author for copyright infringement

Wealthy and educated, Richard Loeb, 18, and Nathan Leopold Jr., 19, were in college when they decided to commit the perfect crime by killing 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks on May 21, 1924. The senseless crime committed by two extremely intelligent young men with no motive shocked the nation. Leopold's glasses found next to Franks' body and a typewriter from which the ransom note was written was all it took to get confessions from the two killers. They were sent to Stateville Prison in Joliet for 99 years for kidnapping and a life sentence for murder.

(Chicago Tribune historical photos)

Meredith Rodriguez, Tribune reporter

Northwestern University has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a woman whom the university hired to write a book about Chicago's notorious 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder trial.According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Nina Barrett was commissioned by the university as part of a part-time job to write a book about the murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. When she left the position earlier this year, Barrett took the unfinished manuscript and related files and has since refused the university's demands to return them, according to the suit.Barrett worked part time for Northwestern from March 2006 to this past January, according to the lawsuit. She started as a writer and was promoted in 2011 to communications specialist in the university library's public relations department.In 2009, Barrett curated a successful exhibit about the Leopold and Loeb murder trial, and as a result was asked to use the university's files to write a book on the subject. As part of the agreement, the university added eight hours of work to her pay while she continued writing news releases, newsletters and brochures for the library, the lawsuit states.A memorandum between Barrett and her supervisor quoted in the lawsuit stated that the contract for the book would be between Northwestern University Press and Northwestern University Library, according to the suit.Barrett submitted a revised book proposal to Northwestern University Press in 2010 and, endorsed by the library, in 2012 received a fellowship from the university's Kaplan Institute for the Humanities to work on the book, the lawsuit states. Barrett resigned from her position in December 2013.After she left, Northwestern examined her university-issued laptop and found that, a couple of months before her resignation, Barrett transferred the draft of the manuscript and related files from the laptop to a USB drive without the university's permission, the lawsuit states. She also restricted access to other files, according to the lawsuit.Barrett, the lawsuit alleges, has reproduced the book proposal and prepared derivative works based on the work without the school's permission. This past March, the university demanded she return the files, according to the lawsuit, but Barrett refused.Aside from four months last year when she served as a lecturer for the university's School of Continuing Studies, according to the lawsuit, Barrett was never a faculty member or independent contractor for Northwestern.A representative for Northwestern declined to comment Thursday, and Barrett and the university's lawyers could not be reached.Barrett and her husband opened a bookstore in Evanston in June called Bookends & Beginnings.According to a short biography on Northwestern's website, Barrett is the author of three books published by Simon & Schuster, has twice been nominated for the James Beard Award for radio for food feature stories that she contributes to Chicago's National Public Radio affiliate station, WBEZ-FM 91.5, and has taught classes in writing and publishing at Northwestern, DePaul University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.mmrodriguez@tribune.com